Since this is the 50th post of La Musica Coolica, I decided to do sort of a double feature. The artist for this week is Velvet Underground. I can’t say that I’m a huge fan of Velvet Underground, generally. I feel like Lou Reed kind of rips off Bob Dylan a lot, stylistically. More than anything, I just kind of have to respect what the group did for experimental Rock. I sort of see them as the Sonic Youth, of the late 60′s, early 70′s.

Another reason that I have to respect them, is because I’m am so intrigued and interested in that whole nexus that they had going with Andy Warhol. To me, it is kind of cool that two huge New York, art icons of that era had meaningful interaction. I know that Jim Morrison hung out with Andy Warhol, too. But, I think that the thing with Velvet Underground was different. Partly because VU lived in NY, and was really in touch with the scene here, at the time. Basically, I’m just bleeding from the mouth about the way that I imagine things, though. Because in reality, I wasn’t there, nor do I have any concrete evidence to support any of my hypotheses.

I was first exposed to the group through covers  of Velvet Underground songs performed by some of my favorite groups, growing up. Cowboy Junkies does a cover of “Sweet Jane,” that I listened to back in the day. Another one is “Here she comes now,” covered by Nirvana on “Outcestiside.” It is a really gritty recording, that barely passes for more than a jam session that just happened to get recorded. In fact, the first time it breaks into the chorus, Kris plays the first couple of bars in the wrong key. I personally think that it is one of the coolest tracks that I have every heard, primarily because of its raw quality. I love the way that Kurt starts really getting into it, vocally, toward the end of the track. So, the double feature that I mentioned earlier, is both the Velvet Underground version, and the Nirvana version of “Here she comes now.” You can check them out back to back.

Click here for the Velvet Underground version.

Click here for Nirvana‘s version.

As with probably half, or even more than half of my generation, one of my all-time favorite rock bands is Nirvana. There is nothing that I can write about them that hasn’t already been written 1000 times over. The song that I’m sharing from them, is not actually a Nirvana, song. It was actually written by a group called the Wipers, out of Portland OR. Kurt was a big fan of theirs, and actually covered a few of their songs. This one is called “D7.” To my knowledge it was only available on the “Outcesticide” imports. I love it. If you like Nirvana, you probably love it too. Turn it up and press play.

Today marks the 15th anniversary of the death of a legend. I’m not really sure how I could have made that first line any more cliche, but it’s true. I can’t believe it has been that long. I remember when I was a lot younger, my mom once told me that everyone in her generation could tell you where they were, when they heard the news that John F. Kennedy was shot. I think that if there could be an equivalent for my generation, it would probably be when Kurt died. Last month, I read a pretty good article in Details, commemorating Cobain’s passing. I agree with most of the analysis. It is the same stuff that most Gen-Xers have contemplated, at one time or another, regarding Kurt. The article talks about things like, what if Kurt were still alive, would he be bald, do beer endorsements, be conformist, etc.. I remember that when Kurt died, they offered counseling at my school, for those who were having a hard time dealing with it. As hard as it was at the time, I think that it would be more likely for me to need counseling now, if Kurt would have lived to sell out. I love the idea of Kurt, the way he was before he died. Kurt Cobain is a part of my identity, as a member of the Gen-X society, that will never get fat, turn into a yuppie, or sell out.